SF Giants win sparks riots

Social media plays important role in violence and vandalism by drunk and rowdy baseball fans who took to the streets af

02 Nov 2010 11:05 GMT

Riots have broken out in the US city of San Francisco - but the vandalism and destruction has been reported less on mainstream media outlets than it has&nbspon online social media websites.

The news&nbspcomes after Monday night's win for the San Francisco Giants - their first World Series title in 56 years - after they beat the Texas Rangers 3-1 in game five of the best of seven Major League Baseball championship.

Twitter saw the hash tag #SFRiots become very popular, with some users tweeting their actions and riot locations, while others expressed concern at the danger and damage on the streets.

People logged into Foursquare, a popular location-based social application, and shared location details, while pictures and videos emerged on various other social media platforms.

Project EPIC, an online platform that "empowers the public with crisis information", organised the information available on social networks and developed an interactive map, detailing incidents of fire, violence, assault and others.

Links to the San Francisco Police Department's scanner was also distributed online, allowing people to listen in for updates on the rioting and violence.

The social networking blog Mashable reported on the riots, including pictures and videos taken from social media users. They reported that a police car containing assault rifles was broken into and at least six shots were fired early on Tuesday morning.

Police found a torched car, and firefighters treated a person who was in the passenger seat, apparently unconscious, local media reported.

Ben Metcalfe, a resident of San Francisco, tweeted that "For those of us here in SF it's actually kinda serious concerning".

Twitter user Savail, had this to say: "I feel bad for the cops, firefighters, and municipal crews of San Francisco. Firemen should never be yelled at. Poor garbage crews."